Many people are Presbyterian without having thought through what stands at the heart of Presbyterianism: church polity. This booklet serves as a basic introduction to Presbyterian church government, useful for new members or officers training classes as well as those investigating Presbyterianism for the first time.
Few things trouble our hearts and minds like suffering. “Why is this happening? Why me? How can I get through this? Can I get through this?”
God says we can, but he says more. Suffering is not merely to be endured. It comes into our lives for good reasons. Suffering affords seasons for growth in ways we would not grow otherwise.
This book prepares believers for hardship when it comes their way. Learning some of the purposes for suffering, how it connects us with our Lord and his people, and what God’s Word says to us in the midst of our pain will enable us to glorify him in the most troubling times.
The wealth of Scripture in this readable book, its focus on the passion and sympathy of Jesus, and thoughtful study questions for reflection or group discussion will help to transform not only our outlook on suffering, but our lives.
The Cornerstone Biblical Commentary series provides students, pastors, and laypeople with up-to-date, accessible evangelical scholarship on the Old and New Testaments. Presenting the message of each passage, as well as an overview of other issues relevant to the text, each volume equips pastors and Christian leaders with exegetical and theological knowledge so they can better understand and apply God’s Word. This volume includes the entire NLT text of Psalms and Proverbs.
A collection of interviews on handling truth and error in the church. Contributors reflect on this issue in relation to the minister’s own life, pulpit ministry, local church leadership, seminary training, denominations, the impact of the academy, Evangelicalism, contemporary trends, history, creeds and confessions, and doctrines that are currently under attack. There is also personal reflection on these matters, lessons drawn from experience, and practical advice. The interviews are introduced by a primer on heresy and false teaching, and concluded with a chapters on why “Being Against Heresies is not enough” and “What really matters in ministry: directives for church leaders in Acts 20.”
Perspectives on Christian Worship presents in counterpoint form five basic common beliefs on Christian worship that have developed over the course of church history with a view toward determining which is most faithful to Scripture. Each chapter is written by a prominent person within each tradition, and each writer has the opportunity to respond to each differing view.
This book presents the first modern in-depth study of the theology of one of the most influential figures in post-Reformation Scotland, Samuel Rutherford (c. 1600-1661). Although much has been written over the years about Rutherford’s political thought or about his nearly mystical piety, very little actually has appeared in print about his theology. Among those hwo have written Rutherford’s theology in the past, none have done so in a comprehensive, systematic manner, and none have devoted any attention at all to examining Rutherford’s Latin treatises. The current work seeks to fill both lacunae, by presenting Rutherford’s theology, beginning with the doctrine of assurance, and by drawing chiefly upon what is arguably his magnum opus theologiae, the Examen Arminianismi. The Examen, which consists of lectures Rutherford delivered to his divinity students at St. Andrews University, is the closest thing he has to a proper systematic theology text. But because it is also a polemical treatise, aimed primarily against the Arminians, the Examen provides a context for us to engage not only with the seventeenth-century dispute over Arminianism, but also with the more contemporary debate of Calvin vs. the Calvinists.
As the value and importance of the non-canonical Jesus tradition continues to be recognized, there is an ever-increasing need for scholarly introductions to this tradition. This co-edited edition comprises the Greek critical editions, with full translations, of several key gospel fragments including P.Egerton 2, P. Oxy. 840, and P.Oxy. 1224. These fragments, preserved despite the widespread destruction of non-canonical manuscripts, are invaluable primary witnesses of ancient Christianity and the transmission of early Christian texts. Introductions to the fragments discuss dates, origins, interpretations, and the relationship of the texts to the canonical gospels. Detailed commentaries expand points of interest to facilitate further scholarly research on these texts in the future. Edited by
Is the Mosaic covenant a ‘republication’ of the the key Reformation doctrine of the covenant of works? Inability to obey the law has implications for the doctrines of grace and justification.
This collection of readings, drawn from the writings and sermons of 25 classic and contemporary theologians and Bible teachers, focuses on the wonder of Christ’s sacrifice.
In a culture where crosses have become little more than decorative accessories and jewelry, how easy it is for even the most well-intended Christian to rush from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday without thoughtfully contemplating the cross and all that it means. Yet we miss out on spiritual riches when we do.
So that we all may linger at the cross during the Lenten season-and stay near it the whole year through-editor Nancy Guthrie has compiled this special anthology. It draws from the works and sermons of classic theologians such as Luther, Edwards, Spurgeon, Ryle, and Augustine, and from leading contemporary communicators such as John Piper, R. C. Sproul, Francis Schaeffer, John MacArthur, Skip Ryan, and Joni Eareckson Tada to help readers enter into an experience of Christ’s passion and anchor their hope in the power of his resurrection.
Each essay in this collection holds to a high view of Scripture and expounds on a particular aspect of the Easter story using the appropriate Scripture passage from the ESV Bible. These readings are sure to prepare people’s hearts for a fresh experience of the cross each and every Easter season.
The New Wettstein is the only complete and continuous commentary on all New Testament passages with Hellenistic material ordered chronologically and philologically. The volume on St. Mark´s Gospel presents some 1300 texts, documenting that there are also numerous Hellenistic parallels to the story of Jesus on both a formal and a substantive level.
Thirteen Reformed scholars take on postmodern evangelicals and provide a solid, biblical critique of their ideas.
While self-described “post-conservative evangelicals” enjoy increasing influence in the evangelical world, they represent a significant challenge to biblical faith. Popularizers like Brian McLaren (of Emergent Church fame) trade on the work of scholars like Stan Grenz, John Franke, and Roger Olson, whose “innovations” represent a major makeover of traditional and historic evangelical theology. This is especially the case with the doctrines of Scripture, the atonement, and the character of God-all of which stand at the center of evangelical Christianity.
In Reforming or Conforming?, scholars such as John Bolt, Scott Clark, Paul Helm, and Paul Helseth join editors Gary Johnson and Ron Gleason in analyzing and critiquing the ideas of those who promote postmodernism as a positive force in theology. Pastors, laymen, and college students will find this book a helpful resource in understanding and refuting postmodern evangelicalism. Includes a foreword by David F. Wells.
Justification is a comprehensive restatement of the classic Reformed doctrine of justification by faith alone. Fesko explains the doctrine in terms of the ordo and historia salutis, as well as in the light of recent challenges.
This anthology celebrates Mount Desert Island in its golden age, the late nineteenth century, when it was a summer playground for wealthy out-of-staters, and most importantly to many, a place for the rich to meet their future husbands and wives. This special era in Maine history spawned a new genre of fiction that was known as the Bar Harbor Novel-romance stories about the rich falling in and out of love during their summer sojourns. Dramatic and romantic, these short novels helped intensify the area’s popularity. The eleven pieces in this collection include those by the great Constance Harrison, Marion Crawford, Edward Church, and Ervin Wardman.
Up until the second half of the 20th century, the American Presbyterian creed has been the confessional tradition of the Westminster Assembly (1643-48). Presbyterians in America adopted the Westminster Confession nd Catechisms in 1729 through a compromise measure that produced ongoing debate for the next hundred years. Differences over the meaning of confessional subscription were a continuing cause of the Presbyterian schisms of 1741 and 1837. The Presbyterian Creed is a study of the factors that led to the 19th-century Old School/New School schism and the Presbyterian reunions of 1864 and 1870. In these American Presbyterian reunions, American Presbyterians finally reached consensus on the meaning of confessional subscription which had previously been so elusive.